Pioneering Women – Illustrated Biographies of European Women

EUNIC Berlin, the network of European cultural institutes, welcomes four European female authors and translators who will be presenting a wide variety of works.

Programme

from 6 pm

Opportunity to visit the exhibition ‘Lucky Luke: Morris’s Lonely Western Hero’ free of charge

7.00 pm

Laura Keilbart in conversation with Maria Kröpfl, Sorina Vasilescu, Nina Six and Jenya Polsina

Bookstall

• The event will be held in English.
• Registration: required by email to eunic(@)eunic-berlin.eu

Four European authors and translators

Marisa Kröpfl works as a bookseller in Vienna, but above all she has been translating graphic novels for the Austrian publisher bahoe Verlag for some time, including several biographies of women such as *Frida Kahlo* by Dominique Osuch and *Freedom in the Blood* by Christophe Girard and Kudret Güneş. Marisa Kröpfl is an expert on the topic of ‘pioneering women in graphic novels’. Her work bridges languages, cultures and perspectives, weaving them together.

Sorina Vasilescu, also known as Sorina Vazelina, is a Romanian graphic designer, illustrator and comic artist. During the communist regime, she was arrested for political reasons and spent almost ten years in prison. After the end of the dictatorship, she published her autobiographical memoirs, in which she powerfully documented her experiences of repression, isolation and inner resistance. In *The Silent Escape*, she tells the story of the artist Lena Constante (1909–2005). The graphic novel combines historical memory with an artistic reflection on freedom, identity and human resilience.

Nina Six, born in Orléans, lives and works as an illustrator and comic book writer in Belgium. Her stories, rendered in delicate lines and vibrant watercolours, often revolve around childhood memories. In her latest work, *La Sorcière de Londres*, she recounts the life of the British author Stella Benson (1892–1933). Benson is known as a writer of fantasy literature, a feminist, a journalist and a traveller, but has since – unlike her friend Virginia Woolf – been largely forgotten. In her graphic novel, and soon also in a novel, the author brings Stella Benson’s incredible life back into the spotlight.

Jenya Polsina is an artist and comic book illustrator from Kyiv. Together with Anna Ivanenko, she founded ‘Seri/graph Studio’ in 2015. With the onset of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, they have shifted their focus to creating comics on war-related themes. Their books have been honoured with numerous awards, such as the ‘White Ravens’. Around 60,000 women currently serve in the Ukrainian armed forces. In *FEMALE MILITARY PERSONNEL*, through sensitively drawn portraits and documentary-style interview excerpts, we meet three women whose names have been changed for security reasons: Lena, Anna and Nadiya. The protagonists speak openly about contradictions, about sexism within the armed forces, about the cliché of ‘war as a man’s business’, about queer identity and activism alongside their lives as soldiers, about marriages taking place within the unit, and about the gruelling worry for their families and children back home.

An event organised by EUNIC Berlin, the network of European cultural institutes, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Institute, the Romanian Cultural Institute, the Representation of East Belgium, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and Wallonia in Berlin, as well as the Austrian Cultural Forum.

With the kind support of the Museum of Communication Berlin

IN ENGLISH